Killer blow from Kanu

You couldn't argue with the result, but in the end it was cruel for Watford. Arsenal picked at them, battered them and showered them with shots, but it seemed that somehow the Premiership upstarts would cling on for a priceless but scarcely deserved point.

Nwankwo Kanu's fate seemed to sum it up as twice he hit the post. But finally the deadlock was broken. Oleg Luzhny took a long throw from the right, Kanu held off the Watford captain Robert Page at the near post and a quick turn and shot later the ball was buried low in the Watford net. Arsenal's shooting practice had finally found the target.

What happened to Chelsea last week when Gianluca Vialli made six changes against Watford between two Champions League games and subsequently lost 1-0, did not seem to have affected Arsène Wenger's approach. He made four changes of his own, resting Davor Suker and Dennis Bergkamp, clearly with the game against Barcelona this Wednesday on his mind.

Watford came to Highbury from less exalted circumstances, the Chelsea win notwithstanding, having lost at Wigan in the Worthington Cup in midweek, though they progressed on an away goal. History was on their side, however. They had won eight of 12 league encounters between the teams and in their first spell in the top flight under Taylor early in the Eighties they came to be Arsenal's bogey team with their powerful, direct style.

'You're even worse than Chelsea,' sang the Watford fans but Arsenal appeared much better prepared for the task. And equipped. These days they are able to match any physical challenge - and this Watford do not possess as much as their predecessors - and pass and move through teams swiftly and smoothly.

So incisive initially were Arsenal that Watford were breathing heavily barely a quarter into the game. Patrick Vieira was the fount of all movement and off him Marc Overmars and Thierry Henry in particular darted to good effect.

Arsenal might have had an early lead when Frederik Ljungberg's cross found Tony Adams ghosting in at the far post, but his header was too close to Alec Chamberlain. Kanu was also not far wide with a 25-yard drive and Overmars volleyed just wide in an impressive opening spell.

There is, though, a pluck and resilience, as well as sound organisation, to Watford these days, as shown by the fact that no one previously in the Premiership has given them a hammering. When they did turn the tide and break free of the pressure they might have taken a lead.

Vieira's back-pass was too short and Allan Smart nipped in ahead of Alex Manninger but his header was just wide. He might well have had a penalty, however, with the Austrian clattering him after the ball had gone.

Normal service was quickly resumed. Ray Parlour drilled a fierce shot just too high and Vieira shot across the face of goal. Adams did have the ball in the net but was adjudged to have bundled over Chamberlain. How Watford survived goalless to the interval was a mystery.

The onslaught intensified right from the start of the second half, with Adams leading Arsenal from the front rather than more usually the back. Twice he forced Chamberlain into brave saves from fierce close-range shots.

Then Kanu took over. He was close to breaking the deadlock when he almost connected with Ljungberg's low cross at the far post. Closer still when his 20-yard shot thumped against Chamberlain's left post and his header from Ljungberg's cross did likewise.

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